Steve Smith douses SCG Test retirement talk as Australia name side for fifth game against England

“We’ll figure it out once we see the surface and see which way we want to go about it.”

Asked whether the SCG’s reputation as a spinning wicket has run its race, Smith responded: “And that’s why [not playing a spinner] is still getting talked about. Which is a shame.

“I love the old-school SCG: flat for two days, footmarks starting to come in, cracks opening, reverse swing, spin late in the game, tricky to bat, slow, low wicket, fielders in front of the wicket.

“But I don’t think it’s been that as long as I’ve been playing, unfortunately.

“It’s probably one of Nathan Lyon’s worst grounds in Australia, that’s why all things are being talked about.”

England skipper Ben Stokes was holding fire on a similar decision around picking either Shoaib Bashir, the only fully-fledged spinner in their touring party, or persisting with part-timer Will Jacks, until game-day.

Shifting rain forecasts for day one have also prompted Australia to hold fire on committing to a final XI, though curator Adam Lewis said earlier this week that lessons had been learned from last year’s Australia-India Test, which finished well inside three days and only saw 10 overs of spin bowled.

Lewis planned to leave six millimetres of grass on the wicket as recently as Thursday, with Cricket Australia desperate for the Test to go the distance after losing as much as $15 million across two-day finishes in Perth and Melbourne.

Meanwhile, Smith dismissed suggestions he could follow Usman Khawaja into a storybook SCG farewell, pointing to the need for batting stability ahead of Australia’s next cycle of Test tours.

Khawaja’s retirement announcement has only heightened the spotlight on the gradual regeneration of a champion, but ageing Test side.

Smith acknowledged that his experience in the middle-order takes on added importance once Australia begin a 12-month stretch in August that will feature at least 20 Tests, including tours to South Africa, India and England.

“With Usman dropping off now he’s one of our experienced players, so it probably wouldn’t be ideal if he and I went out this week,” Smith said.

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“I want to keep playing so don’t read into that too much. I’m still playing, I’m enjoying it, so we’ll wait and see.”

Australia’s return to South Africa in September looms as a particularly pivotal campaign for Smith given it is the first tour there since Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft served suspensions for ball-tampering scandal of 2018.

A home summer of Tests against New Zealand, followed by a bumper five-Test tour of India in February, 2027, the 150th anniversary Test against England and the Ashes present as a legacy-defining period for this generation.

The World Test Championship final will also fall before the 2027 Ashes as well, with Australia leading the standings after a surprise upset from South Africa in the decider of the last cycle.

“I feel we’ve got a really good team,” Smith said.

“The team we’ve had over the past three or four years, making two World Test Championship finals, different people have stood up at different times, it’s never been one or two people getting the job done, it’s been shared across.

“That’s made us a really good team, so it’s been good to be a part of and as an older player now, hopefully I can help some of the players coming through and help teach them the game of Test cricket. That’s my role now.”

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